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Born in Oldenburg, Germany, Weber composed his first two operas aged just 16. Being one of the finest pianists around, his music is filled with vigour and spirit. Weber wrote three concertos for clarinet in 1811 at the age of 25, for the Munich clarinettist, Heinrich B?rmann. The most famous movement from the first concerto has been skilfully arranged for solo cornet and brass band. A perfect showcase of a piece.

John Rutter's music is known across the world for its simplicity and memorable melodies. The 'Pie Jesu' from his requiem is certainly no exception. First performed in Dallas, Texas in 1985, the 6 movements completed Rutter's setting of the Roman Catholic Mass. The third movement (the 'Pie Jesu') is typical of the composer, featuring a strong melody line with subtle accompaniments. Now arranged for Solo Cornet by Adam Rutter, this slow melody allows the soloist to shine in one of the finest and most famous settings of the work to date. A great addition to any concert & soloists repertoire.

Flight of the Bumblebee was originally composed by Rimsky-Korsakov as an orchestral interlude for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1899). The piece closes the first tableau of Act III, right after the magic Swan-Bird gives Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) instructions on how to change into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is alive). In the century since its composition, the piece has become a standard showcase for solo instrumental virtuosity. This arrangement is by one of the finest exponents of the euphonium, David Childs.

Herbert L. Clarke (1867 – 1945) is regarded by many as one of the finest cornet players of all time, noted not only for his amazing technique but also for his warm, lyrical tone. He has left a multitude of cornet solos as well as collections of studies which are still very widely used. He was a member of The Sousa Band briefly in 1893 and then from 1898 to 1917 where he was not only the distinguished cornet soloist but also became assistant director.From The Shores Of The Mighty Pacific is an all-time favourite rondo-caprice cornet solo and was first published in 1912. A brass band arrangement was requested by Chris Lichtler, principal cornet of Brass Band of the Western Reserve, musical director Dr. Keith M. Wilkinson. Chris has performed it many times with BBWR and it was recorded by them on the CD, Without Reserve!.

Enigma Machine takes its name from the famous cipher machine used by the Germans in World War Two. The wartime Enigma cipher was cracked at Bletchley Park by teams of British code-breakers, including the legendary Cambridge mathematician Alan Turing.Some of Britain’s finest brains of the period worked to decipher Enigma messages. Key to their success was working with UK industry to produce machines which automated various code-breaking tasks. One important collaboration was with the engineers at the Post Office (a predecessor of BT) who designed and built the world’s first electronic computer ‘Colossus’ which was a pioneering achievement in 1940’s wartime Britain.Their collaborative work was part of a top-secret operation called ‘Ultra’ which proved to be vital in the defeat of Nazi Germany.When performing this piece it is important to note that you will require the use of a WW2 siren. You can use either a real machine or a sound effect that can be played through a speaker system.During this piece there are many and varied morse code messages played by the different members of the band. These various instructions and messages have been taken from books and documents highlighting the types of messages that were sent to various military groups during the war.This piece uses a variety of musical styles: From the jumbled eerie messages given by the Germans at figure A, to the combat scenes at B and beyond, the military marching at G and the reference to Walton’s Spitfire Fugue at H. The middle movement features a quotation from the last post and then after a recapitulation of the opening material with embedded morse code throughout, the piece climaxes with a development of the famous last post motif to a tub-thumping ending.